Karnataka winter assembly session begins tomorrow amid boundary dispute, forthcoming polls
Belagavi (K'taka) (PTI): Amid the raging border dispute with neighbouring Maharashtra and around five months to go for assembly elections in Karnataka, the winter session of the state legislature will begin at 'Suvarna Vidhana Soudha' in Belagavi on Monday.
This will be the last session of the incumbent BJP government in the northern district headquarters town bordering Maharashtra.
This session assumes importance for the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai-led administration, as only the joint session and budget session will be left before elections are announced. The polls are likely to be held by April-May 2023.
The 10-day session till December 30 is likely to be stormy as both the ruling and opposition sides are appeared to attack and counter each other on a host of issues.
The opposition parties are likely to corner the government on issues like alleged corruption and scams in various departments, voter data theft scandal, the border dispute and its handling by the government, law and order situation with incidents of communal flare-up and cooker blast in Mangaluru, farmers' demands including an increase in fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane.
With elections round the corner, the opposition parties are also likely to target the government on the issue of governance, "unfulfilled" promises made in the manifesto ahead of 2018 polls, and infrastructure woes in several urban areas especially Bengaluru due to torrential rains and deluge caused by them.
With the BJP government's decision to hike reservation for SCs from 15 per cent to 17 per cent and STs from 3 per cent to 7 per cent, yet to be ring-fenced under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, leaving it vulnerable as it exceeds the 50 per cent caps fixed by the Supreme Court, the opposition, especially the Congress, is likely to raise the issue.
The reservation related demand by various communities like Panchamasalis and Vokkaligas is likely to be raised by members from both opposition and treasury bench sides; also, internal reservation issue among Scheduled Castes is also likely to come up for discussion.
The ruling BJP too is planning to counter the opposition especially the Congress, seeking to capitalise the statement by its leaders' "trivialising" the Mangaluru pressure cooker blast, and "anti-Hindu" remarks.
Karnataka PCC President D K Shivakumar has made a statement seemingly suggesting that the Mangaluru pressure cooker blast was "orchestrated" by the BJP government to divert attention from the voter data theft scandal, while its working president Satish Jarkiholi has recently made remarks on the origins of the word Hindu and its "dirty meaning".
The reported factionalism within the Congress, especially the game of one-upmanship between Shivakumar and Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, are likely to be used by BJP to take a dig at the principal opposition party.
With the session taking place in the north Karnataka region, a separate discussion is likely on the issues here.
Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has said six Bills are likely to be discussed during the session. Of the six draft laws to be taken up for discussion and approval, four are new ones. Two Bills including the Kannada Comprehensive Development Bill, were already tabled in the previous session in Bengaluru.
Besides, the session is being held amid the raging border dispute with the trigger being the possible hearing on the issue in the Supreme Court, on a suit filed by Maharashtra.
The row had intensified in the last couple of weeks, with vehicles from either side being targeted, leaders from both states weighing in, and pro-Kannada and Marathi activists being detained by police amid a tense atmosphere in Belagavi.
Maharashtra claims Belagavi and some nearby places belong to it.
Stepping in to defuse the border tensions, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 14 held a meeting with chief ministers of the two states and asked them to set up a six-member joint ministerial panel to address related issues and not make any claims till the Supreme Court pronounces its verdict on the dispute.
Belagavi, bordering Maharashtra, has been hosting legislature sessions once a year since 2006.
As many as nine Winter sessions have been held in Belagavi in 16 years. Seven of them were held inside the Suvarna Soudha and two outside.
Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, modelled on the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat in Bengaluru, was built as an assertion that Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka.
Other than the session held once a year for about two weeks, the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha building remains mostly unutilised.
It has been a long-standing demand of the people of north Karnataka to shift some government offices to Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, aimed at addressing regional imbalance, and for the benefit of citizens of the regions, who otherwise have to travel to Bengaluru.
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Delhi govt departments distance themselves from AAP's promised schemes
Asks people not to share personal details
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi government's Women and Child Development and Health departments issued public notices on Wednesday distancing themselves from the ruling AAP's promised schemes of providing Rs 2,100 to women and free treatment for the elderly, triggering a fresh row ahead of assembly polls.
The two departments also cautioned the people against providing personal details to anyone on the pretext of registration for "non-existent" schemes, saying any private individual or political party collecting such physical forms or information is "fraudulent and without any authority".
The development, which came days after AAP leaders launched the exercise of registering people for the Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojana and Sanjeevani Yojana with much fanfare, left the AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal furious.
Kejriwal, who is leading the registration drive, alleged that the BJP was rattled by the two schemes and claimed that Chief Minister Atishi could be arrested in a "fake" case in the coming days.
"They are completely rattled with Mahila Samman Yojna and Sanjeevani Yojna. They have hatched a plan to come up with a fake case and arrest Chief Minister Atishi in the next few days," he said on X.
He also claimed that before Atishi's arrest, raids would be conducted against senior AAP leaders.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj had on Tuesday claimed that she spoke to the health secretary of the Delhi government and was informed that there was no "Sanjeevani Yojna" in existence.
Both the schemes were announced by Kejriwal ahead of Assembly polls in February next year and AAP had started registrations for the schemes in campaign mode. Its leaders are confident that the measure will help woo voters as many believe that such schemes were a factor in the ruling parties retaining power in several state elections.
"It has been brought to the notice of the Department of Women and Child Development, through media reports and social media posts, that a political party is claiming to disburse Rs 2100 per month under Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana to women in Delhi.
"It is clarified that no such scheme has been notified by the Government of Delhi," said the public notice by the department.
If and when the scheme begins, the department will launch a digital portal for eligible individuals to submit their applications online as per the approved guidelines, it said.
Since no such scheme exists, the question of physical forms for registration under this non-existent scheme does not arise, read the notice.
"Any private individual/ political party collecting such physical forms/applications or collecting information from applicants under the name of the Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana is fraudulent and without any authority," it said.
The notice cautioned the people that providing personal details and sensitive information like PAN account numbers, phone numbers or Voter ID, in the name of the scheme may lead to crime including cyber and banking frauds.
It advised people not to entertain the "misleading" promise of non- non-existent scheme and to exercise caution and asked them not to provide personal details to unauthorised persons.
The Mahila Samman Yojna was announced by the AAP government in the budget 2024-25 to provide Rs 1000 per month to all eligible women aged above 18 in Delhi. Kejriwal recently promised to raise the amount to Rs 2100 per woman if AAP returned to power.
The Health and Family Department public notice similarly cautioned the people about "Sanjeevani Yojna" announced by the AAP supremo for free treatment of senior citizens above 60 years at government and private hospitals.
It has also come to the notice of the department that a registration drive to get enrolled under this scheme by filling up physical forms has also been started by some political functionaries and volunteers who are visiting door to door to collect information from elderly citizens and handing over to them some sort of "Health/Sanjeevani Scheme Card".
The notice said details of senior citizens like phone numbers, addresses, Aadhar and bank accounts were being sought for the registration and many of the elderly people have started visiting government hospitals and government offices to enquire about the scheme.
The notice said the Health and Family department does not have any supposed "Sanjeevani Scheme" in existence till date.
"Any private individual/political party collecting such physical forms/ applications or collecting information of applicants under the name of "Sanjeevani Yojna" is fraudulent and without any authority," read the notice clarifying the department has not authorised any health officials to collect personal details of the elderly.
